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English: The United States Supreme Court, (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

"The Roberts Court is pro-business." The Roberts Court "comes to the defense of business."

Stories peddling this angle seem to be a compulsory part of reporting at the conclusion of each Supreme Court term. The completion of the October 2012 term is no exception. King & Spalding's Ashley Parrish took strong exception to this characterization of the Court during Washington Legal Foundation's annual end-of-the-term briefing this past Tuesday. The entire program can be viewed here.

The "pro-business" bromide is a trite and woefully simplistic byproduct of the need to label things. One could argue that the term implies judicial bias, i.e. deciding cases based on the nature of the litigant rather than on the law. It can also be seen as ideological or political in nature. If, for instance, Justice Ginsberg happened to be the Chief Justice at a time when the Court's rulings favored free enterprise, would we be seeing stories about how pro-business the "Ginsberg Court" is? Further, has anyone seen the justices who rule against business litigants described as "anti-business"?

As an institution which for 36 years has sought to advance legal principles which support the conduct of free enterprise, Washington Legal Foundation views "pro-business" Court as a compliment. We're pleased that in the nine cases in which we filed during the October 2012 term, seven resulted in victories for "business" litigants. Our perspectives on the law, on the judiciary's limited role, and on constitutional protections for business entities are prevailing. But WLF should not be alone in applauding this Court's rulings against plaintiffs' lawyers, activist groups, and federal regulators. Businesses employ Americans, Americans invest in businesses, and our free enterprise system gives people of all backgrounds a fighting chance to succeed.

So if a label must be imposed, did the Roberts Court earn its "pro-business" stripes this term? If one looks strictly at the numbers, generally it did.